A sessions court in Solan has sentenced two former officials of the agriculture department to a total of five years in jail for misappropriating ₹1.78 lakh under a seed-distribution scheme meant for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) farmers.
The convicted officials—Hari Dutt Sharma, then cashier, and Daya Nand Garg, former agriculture extension officer at Darlaghat—were found guilty of criminal conspiracy and breach of trust, in addition to offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Sharma has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and two more years under Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. He was also fined ₹50,000.
Garg received a similar sentence—three years under the IPC sections and two years under Section 13(1)(c) of the PC Act—along with a fine of ₹10,000.
The case originated from a complaint filed by the Director of the Animal Husbandry Department, alleging financial misappropriation during 2003–2004 under a government scheme for seed distribution. An inquiry by the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV-ACB), Solan, revealed that Sharma had failed to deposit ₹1,69,329, while ₹15,822 was recovered from Garg.
The court also noted supervisory negligence and recommended departmental action against higher officials who failed to prevent the misappropriation.
